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King Kong (1933)
Director: Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack
A pioneer in special effects, it's also an argument that effects don’t matter. Yes, the ape is clearly, to the modern eye, a crudely animated doll, but you’re too convinced by Kong as a character to notice. Read Review

Brighton Rock (1947)
Director: John Boulting
If you think of Richard Attenborough as that avuncular white-bearded gent, watch him in this seedy adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel about a two-bit crim going to dastardly lengths to conceal a murder. Genuinely terrifying. Read Review

Forrest Gump (1994)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
One man’s heartwarmer is another man’s schmaltz, but it’s impossible to deny the craft on show in Zemeckis’ story of a simpleton who can’t help but succeed. Read Review

Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
This sauntering chronicle of a boy’s love for cinema and a local projectionist should quiver the lip of any true-blue movie-lover, particularly in its montage of banned kisses. And then the wonderful ending should leave you a wreck. Read Review

Requiem For A Dream (2000)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
If Pi showed that Aronofsky was full of ideas, his follow-up showed we didn’t know the half of it, with the director’s toy-box of technical tricks providing the film’s big buzz amid a gripping pessimism. Read Review

Delicatessen (1991)
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro
Jeunet and Caro are, of course, very odd, but their attention to detail in this tale of love and cannibalism is wonderful. Like Terry Gilliam with more heart and a brighter palette. Read Review

Black Narcissus (1947)
Director: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
The plot concerns a group of nuns in the Himalayas, toiling against cold forces without and lusty forces within, but it’s the images that make this essential. Astonishing visual storytelling. Read Review

Battle Royale (2000)
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Schoolkids wearing explosive collars forced to fight to the death? Fukasaku’s pic is a forceful comment on adolescent alienation. Read Review

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Director: Paul Greengrass
If you watch the third in the Bourne trilogy closely, you’ll notice that Paul Greengrass never stops the action to tell the story. The action tells the story. Now that is popcorn filmmaking. Read Review

Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Considered a lesser Indy, the sequel still has bags to recommend it. The opening is the best of the trilogy — and Indy actually wins in this one. Read Review